President's Day Weekend

I have a feeling this is going to be a long post...I apologize in advance.  It has been such a busy, fun weekend, and there is so much to blog about.  Plus, I have all the time in the world to write about it, as I have this entire week off from school! :)

Anyway, this past week I discovered a new TV show: Downton Abbey.  I am in love!  Have you ever felt that you were born in the wrong time period?  I have my own Midnight in Paris moments just about every time I study a different era in history.  I am a bona fide history nerd through and through.  I quickly zipped through Season 1 (The story of an aristocratic British family and their servants spanning from the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 to the beginning of WWI in 1914) on Netflix and then dragged Brian with me this weekend in watching Season 2 here (The continuation follows the characters through wartime to peace from 1916 to the beginning of 1920.)

 

Disclaimer:  1) In Season 1, Episode 1, there is a homosexual kiss between one the more unscrupulous male servants and a visitor.  I just fast forwarded the scene.  There hasn't been another scene like it since.  2) For those of you with addictive personalities like mine, be prepared for the disappointment of waiting a complete year before Season 3 comes out.  That is unless you want to move to the UK with me, in which case we can watch it this fall!

Saturday, my biggest accomplishment was probably running 3 miles uphill, outside, in 17 degree weather.  State St. bring it on! But the most enjoyable part of the day was driving down to SLC with Brian to see The Vow with my sister Whitney.  Fun Fact - The daughter of one of my colleagues at school was the producer! I definitely enjoyed the movie and am glad that I got to see it with two of my favorite people.  Brian didn't even hate it, although some of the characters really annoyed him.

Sunday, after church, Brian and I had my family (Travis, Mayra, Whitney, and Alex) over for dinner and games.  It's been awhile (Halloween) since we have got together, so it was a ton of fun to be all together again.  We had my "famous" lasagne bolognese, homemade garlic breadsticks a la Brian, and a salad for dinner.  Dessert was all Brian too.  Don't they look delicious?

Brownies with Nutella Cream Filling

After dinner and dessert, we played some new and fun games.  It's my favorite part of being with my family!  I seriously don't think I ever laugh harder than we are all playing games together.  :)  Of course, I didn't take any pictures of us together the whole night, but here is a look at the games we played.

Cranium, Pass the Pigs, and Last Word

Monday, Brian and I used our Canyon's passes we got for Christmas to go skiing/snowboarding.  It was my first time ever at the Canyon's, and only our second time skiing this season.  It was a perfect sunny day, and we had a lot of fun exploring the resort together. :)

getting all our gear...

taking the gondola up to the resort...

"the bubble lift" complete with heated seats...

Thanks for sticking with me all the way to the end!

Will you be my Valentine?

This was the question Brian asked me Monday night as we were going to bed.  I told him I would think about it...Just Kidding...I totally said yes. :)

Tuesday morning I got up earlier than normal to hide some of Brian's Valentine's Day presents all over in places like the fridge on top of his breakfast, in his back pack, computer case, and in his car.  I got the incredibly cute idea from my mother-in-law, Judy. :)

I'm Nuts About You

I Love You to Pieces

We're Just Mint to Be

You're the Best Catch. Think I'll Keep Ya!

Our Eternal Friendship is Sealed with a Kiss

I'm Bursting with Happiness that you are Mine

Then, this is what I came home to after school!  My husband knows me so well, and is such a thoughtful gift giver!  It was such a great surprise.  Brian is so good at getting me gifts that I never know I want until I see them.  In some ways he knows me better than I know myself.

Enjoy a taste of Italy! (Pasta, Gnocchi, Kinder Chocolate, Blood Orange Italian Soda, Balsamic Vinegar, Sun-Dried Tomato and Garlic Olive Oil, an olive oil mister...)

and...a delicious ear of caramel corn!  This stuff is the best and kind of hard to find!

On the way home from school, Brian grabbed us a pizza at my favorite place in Park City, Maxwell's.  It is this great restaurant that also offers Italian style thin crust pizza.  I beat Brian home, so I got to help set the mood by decorating some and see Brian open the rest of his presents...

I wrote this is the snow for Brian to see on his way down the steps.

Brian's presents set up on the bed so that he would find them when he went into our room.

Candle decorations by me.  Red roses, pizza, and soda thanks to Brian. :)

Brian wanted me to put my hand in the picture just so you could truly see how large this amazing pizza is.  If only you could truly know how great it tasted too...

 Last, but not least, we ended the night by watching "Something Borrowed" (a romantic comedy, obviously) from Red Box and eating rootbeer floats made with IBC rootbeer and homemade vanilla ice cream.  Yum!  I can't think of anything I love more than eating great food and snuggling up with my hubbie while watching a movie. 

Valentine's Day 2012 = Success!

Our First Valentine's Day

I realized the other day that I have never written down the story of Brian and I's first Valentine's Day.  Because I started this blog after we were married, I thought it would be a good idea to flash back occasionally to some of my favorite dating memories from time to time.  Here is one for the books to get me pumped for tomorrow's day of love...

Brian and I's first Valentine's Day was actually spent in San Diego.  We decided to take a long weekend trip to stay with my friend Jessica who invited us.  Renae and her roommate Vilate came too, and we had a great time road-tripping our way down to CA via St. George. 
 

The whole weekend was a huge success!  Jessica was a great hostess.  We had a bonfire of the beach. She took us kayaking and to some really great restaurants.  We visited the San Diego temple. And tons, tons more.

Valentine's Day was actually on Sunday.  After church, we headed down to the beach to enjoy the water and the sun.  Thanks Renae for taking such a great picture!

I had actually brought Brian's Valentine's Day present, a DC hoodie and a gift card for a massage at Massage Envy (his first professional massage experience) down to San Diego with me, but Brian had "supposedly" ;) thought that we were going to exchange gifts back in Park City.  So I got an extended Valentine's Day experience, which wasn't a bad deal at all because we basically got to celebrate twice!

A couple days later Brian showed up at my door with some beautiful flowers and the cutest homemade present of all time.  He said he felt bad that he hadn't spent a lot of money (he had just paid tuition for the semester and was only working part-time and not making a lot of money,) but I thought it was way better than any expensive gift!  Then he took me to this delicious Mexican restaurant, Baja Cantina, at Park City Mountain Resort. 

Here are the first flowers Brian ever bought for me.

And here is my adorable husband's "Ten Things I Love About Ashley" :)

We finished the date off with some great food.

It was a pretty great first Valentine's Day for us!  You can head over here if you're interested in hearing about last year's celebrations: Our first Valentine's Day as a married couple!

Weekend Update

Friday

Brian was pretty wiped out from all his midterms this week, so we grabbed Wendy's, and he even let me pick the movie....The Little Mermaid!

 Can I just say that I love this movie!  I haven't seen it in forever, and it brought back so many good childhood memories.  Hooray for Disney magic!

Saturday

Brian and I drove down to to Sandy to meet up with my friend Jessica at this great burger place called Salt City Burger Co.  Jess is living the life of a traveling wanderer while her husband is stationed in Afghanistan.  It was really good to see her and catch up.

Then, we came home and made delicious homemade ice cream using our ice cream maker that we got for our wedding.  I have a feeling it's going to get a lot more use from now on!

But before you go thinking I'm a total pig, just know that Saturday I also ran 5 miles as part of my 1/2 marathon training.

Sunday

It snowed! I put together a fabulous Valentine's singing time lesson complete with primary songs with the word love in them.  Brian made me dinner, and I'm am enjoying the rest of my fabulous relaxing Sunday evening lounging in my PJ's.  Pretty good weekend by any standard!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday to the best Dad in the World!

Top 10 Reasons I love my Dad...

1. He is the most generous person I know.  He is always willing to give of himself to help others.
2. He loves flying planes...and I love traveling with him all around the world.
3. He has always been a great example of living the gospel at all times and all places.
4. He loves to play cards!  A love that he has passed down to all 4 of his children.
5. He likes to pretend he grew up in the ghetto and is in touch with his peeps from movies like Barbershop and any of the Madea movies.
6. He gives great advice like..."You can't help who you fall in love with, but man it sucks being poor." :)
7. He loves my mom.  Period. The End.
8. He has always been supportive of my dreams from cheerleading to Chiefettes to attending BYU to going on my mission to becoming a teacher.
9. He only would get a little upset when I would accidentally hurt one of the cars.
10. He can make anyone laugh.  He is a total people person and that is why you can't help but love him!

Happy Groundhog's Day!

With a winter like this one, I don't even mind that the groundhog saw it's shadow and predicted 6 more weeks of winter.

Winter in Park City this year has been incredibly mild (Did I mention that on New Year's Day Brian and I washed both our cars outside in t-shirts?!?!)  It has barely snowed at all, making me SO happy we didn't spend the money to buy season passes to PCMR or the Canyons this year.  And in all honesty, without the time and money for snowboarding and after the Christmas holiday, I am totally ready for warm weather.  I'm fine with 6 more weeks of winter as long as by April/May the snow is gone and Spring is in the air!  

Last year, I didn't get my wish.  It totally snowed in May and June, but hey...one can always hope. :)